Knighted
by Knighted
Summary: SQUINOA. 8th chapter FINALLY added, after nearly a year of stalls... It's one year after the end of the game, and Rinoa is having bad dreams about ultimacia... could this be linked to something darker? A story about love, fluff, friendship etc.
1. Dreams

My First Disclamer (I'm so excited): I do not own or hold any of the rights to Final Fantasy 8. FF8 is the property of Squaresoft. I do not own any of the characters from FF8, nor the original storyline of the game. Etc. But soon, oh so soon it will be mine... the forces are in place now, waiting... for the perfect moment... to strike.

**Knighted**  
_Chapter One: Dreams  
_  
By Knighted

* * *

"Squall?" he was woken by a faint, fearful voice timidly whispering into his ear. "Squall... wake up..." he groaned and opened his eyes. At first he thought he was dreaming. A beautiful young woman was leaning over him, her cream-highlighted black hair hanging down, framing her face, in Squall's opinion, perfectly. He wondered what this girl was doing in his room... suddenly he realised that the girl was crying, small droplets of salty water running slowly down her smooth cheeks to fling themselves down onto his bed covers.  
  
He also realised that it was Rinoa.  
  
"Rin?" he said urgently, a pain already growing in his chest at the sight of her sorrow, mingled with the clutch of panic. What had happened? Was she hurt? His sat bolt upright in his bed, swinging his legs over the sides, the cover falling from him.  
  
"Rinoa? Are you ok... what's wrong?"  
  
The 18-year-old girl shivered and moved closer to the slightly taller man.  
  
"I..." now that she thought about it, it seemed much more stupid.  
  
"I had those dreams, a-again..." Squall sighed, pulling her into a tight embrace, comforting and warming. Of course, what else could it have been? She wrapped her arms around his back, closing her eyes and snuggling close to the heat of his body. He slowly sat down on the bed, turning her round and placing her on his lap before lying down on the bed, so that they both looked up to the blank ceiling of the Commander's room, laying her on top of himself and placing a light kiss upon her raven hair. She closed her eyes and moved into a more comfortable position. After a while just lying with each other, Squall spoke.  
  
"...Was it the same one?"  
  
She mutely nodded... then shook her head.  
  
"Rinoa... I don't understand. Was it different?" he questioned quietly.  
  
"It was the same dream, but..." she breathed deeply "different... no, clearer than it was before..."  
  
"Clearer?" he pressed.  
  
"I... I saw her face... her face... Ultimacia's. She was surrounded by darkness, but..."  
  
Squall pressed his face into her silky hair, breathing another sigh, taking in her scent.  
  
"...They're becoming more potent..." Rinoa nodded again.  
  
"Then we've got only one choice..." the woman wrapped in his arms twisted her head, looking up at him in silent questioning. He began to stroke her soft hair, reassuring her.  
  
"We're going to have to ask Cidd and Edea" As much as he hated asking his boss, the headmaster of Balam Garden, for advice he didn't know what else to do, and he was the only person on the planet who had experience of what the Sorceress and Knight were going through. Because Rinoa was a Sorceress. He didn't worry about the fact that Rinoa was a sorceress, but the fact that all her predecessors had in someway been harmed by their powers; either in falling to the temptation to use them for domination, or being used, as in Edea's case, by some other sorceress. And, somehow, these dreams seemed to be some sort of side effect of her powers. Or dream; it was the same one, over and over again, every night for the past three and half weeks.  
  
Rinoa was still staring up at him, smiling as he woke out of his reverie.  
  
"You drifted off again" she giggled.  
  
"Sorry" grunted Squall, embarrassed by his daydreaming. Rinoa laughed again, and he felt a tingling sensation down his spine as the music of her voice played over him. He smiled down lovingly at him. The young sorceress thought of how far they had come in one year, but it still amused her when Squall got lost in one of his thinking tangents.  
  
Squall looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table, a half-joking present from Cidd, given to him on his 19th birthday because he seemed to require more sleep these days with Rinoa around; the others had formulated reasons for this which really did not amuse him. The clock read 5:06am. Not much point in getting up then, he thought. Rinoa was still looking up at him and, at a strange impulse, Squall lowered his head and kissed her softly on the lips, tasting the salt from her tears bittersweet against the background of her lips. He broke off, and saw his target looking at him with a mixture of amazement and adoration. He attempted to carefully move his aficionado off him, placing his hands around her slim waist and slowly shifting her to the side, noting with a jolt in his midriff the smooth texture of her skin under his fingers. She looked at him slyly, seeming to read his mind. He quickly blushed and deposited her, almost leaping out of the bed in his effort to escape the predicament.  
  
He proceeded less anxiously to his bathroom, opening the door and looking back at the flowing form of the person lying on the bed. He turned back to the room, but the voice from his room stopped him.  
  
"Squall?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Thank you." The young man looked puzzled as he turned back to her.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For being here."

* * *

Cheesy as hell, I know, but it'll get better! This chapter may have been a bit short but I'll make the other ones longer, when more stuff starts to happen. Pls read and review (just click the lil button down there, ya know). 

Thanks,  
  
Knighted


	2. Couples in the Cafeteria?

Disclaimer 2: Flight of the Disclaimer. I don't own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein, I don't even own my brain; I sold it to a mad scientist who had run out of stock. He gave me 7 teabags for it... Don't sue, especially for the weirdness of that last sentence. My teabag supply is already rapidly depleted...  
  
I'd like to note that I was astounded when writing this to find that I couldn't remember the full names of all the characters... I've been away from the game too long... Also I used the usual name for the Zell's Library Girl: Shizuka as I don't know whether she has a real one. Sorry for the title of the chapter...

Knighted  
  
Chapter Two: Couples in the Cafeteria?  
  
By Knighted

* * *

  
As Squall and Rinoa made their way around the central column of Balam Garden, they heard a squeal behind them. They both tuned slowly, dreading what they knew must come... Selphie Tilmitt was standing behind them, her hand over her mouth; but this was doing nothing to stop the ear-piercing noise coming from behind the petite figure's hand. Squall felt his ears bubbling and Rinoa put her hands on either side of her head to shut out the sound. As the petite brunette finished, she exclaimed,  
  
"You guys are so cute when you walk like that!" Squall, with significantly damaged hearing, growled at Selphie,  
  
"Cut it out. We've been like this for a year, can't you take that in?" the teenage girl had seemed to mature a lot in this past year, but she still had these annoying outbursts.  
  
"Wo, cool it Squall. Just saying..." Squall frowned at her "...that, uh, yeh. Anyway, are you two off to breakfast?" Rinoa straightened up, a little pale.  
  
"Y-yeh. Where's the others?" as Squall had his larger room in a different wing, the others generally went ahead separately. The smaller girl dressed in yellow sighed,  
  
"Irvine's still in bed. He's so lazy in the mornings. Must be all that... stuff... we do... in bed-I mean in... the days..." the Sorceress and Knight stared at her.  
  
"So" she smiling weakly "uh... shall we?" Squall and Rinoa jumped.  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeh, right"  
  
They proceeded along the circular walkway until they reached the siding to the cafeteria, turning in and spotting immediately the others, who were seated around a couple of tables joined together, in the far corner of the eating hall. Zell was, unusually not eating hotdogs; the petite blond librarian girl beside him had accounted for that change in interests. Squall mentally reminded himself to find out her name... On the librarian's right, Quistus sat, chatting idly with the rest of the group-and by her side was...Seifer Almasy. This didn't surprise the commander, as everyone in the garden knew of the fact that the strict instructor and the rebel knight were an 'item'. However, he was annoyed. He had strictly forbidden Seifer's presence in garden and Quistus knew all too well, so to see him in the cafeteria was a bit... Squall had no time to ponder it further, for as he neared the table the tall blond figure of Seifer turned his head and caught sight of him. He quickly pecked Quistus on the cheek and almost ran out of the cafeteria, his customary grey trench coat, now quite tattered, sweeping behind him and whipping round the corner with a flick. Quistus seemed surprised at his strange behaviour and looked behind, only to see her senior bearing down on her with all speed. Her face blanched and she made to get up, but Squall was upon her.  
  
"What" he hissed "is he doing here?" Quistus sighed and returned to her seat, while the three new arrivals to the hall, the raging commander, Rinoa and Selphie, took a seat opposite Quistus.  
  
"...Nothing mu-"the instructor saw Squall's face and decided that, in the current situation, it would be better to re-start.  
  
"He got in on his own, I tried to stop him, but you know when he gets an idea into his head..." and you can't resist him, thought the other three girls around the table simultaneously.  
  
"Right" said Squall, and the finality in his voice scared the heck out of Quistus  
  
"This has gone too far. He can't just walk in as if he owns the damn place." One of the cooking staff approached and deposited a plate on table in front of him. He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the cooked breakfast served up for him, consisting of what was rumoured among the cadets was anything that the cooks could scrape from the rubbish bin fried.  
  
"I'll talk to Cidd about it later" Squall informed Quistus, who looked relieved. For Squall, this was extremely light payment for someone directly disobeying his orders. She looked at him, her head on one side in thought. Could he be gaining some compassion?  
  
As Selphie joined in with the other's conversation (how were they going to find the several hundred moon-monsters left in Esthar after the cleansing of monsters that had happened three months ago) Rinoa announced that she was going to grab some breakfast for herself. She got up, but Squall beat her to the mark.  
  
"I'll get it" he offered quietly. Rinoa smiled sweetly and Squall felt his heat at Quistus melt away as her lips offered a crescent shape. He seemed mesmerised, trying to tell himself that he should go get Rin's breakfast, but his legs didn't want to move. He finally got moving, Rinoa following him with her eyes, and as he got past him a man bumped into him  
  
"Well, look at the two little love-birds sitting way up in a tree so high up there" Irvine commented, startling Squall out of his reverie, while he sat down. Squall practically raced away from the table as Zell began sniggering. Rinoa grinned and sat down again.  
  
"Wow, have you got him hooked Rinoa!" laughed Shizuka, the library girl. Zell snorted again.  
  
At that moment Squall decided to reappear with Rinoa's breakfast, sitting down himself, he began to tuck in.  
  
"Thanks..." she didn't really know what to say.  
  
"No problem" he replied, and there was silence as everyone ate and Selphie surreptitiously stole Irvine's juice. 

---------------

"Hey, you two, what're you doing today anyway?" Zell called back to Squall and his angel.  
  
"We've got to see the headmaster now, we'll call you if we have any plans." Rinoa replied.  
  
"See ya then" Zell said, racing out of the hall after Shizuka.  
  
Squall finished off and waited for his counterpart, watching her. His eyes roamed over her pail face, the way her hair fell down over and she flicked it up behind her. Even her slightest movements enraptured him, creating a warm, sensuous feeling inside him. His eyes trailed over her mouth and her red lips, as she delicately placed another forkful pass her lips. He felt urges inside him with which he was familiar, desires and longings for her. These feelings he used to dread, he now saw as an indulgement, a way of getting closer to his feelings for her. His eyes roamed further down past her chin, to her smooth, shapely neck, to her shoulders and... he stopped himself just in time; slightly shaken he berated himself, knowing that he had almost gone to far.  
  
It was then that he glanced up and saw her watching him. He froze, seeing her grin, as a hot feeling covered his face and slowly edged it's way down his body. She giggled lightly and he felt another hot feeling which was not connected with his embarrassment.  
  
"S-sorry... I didn't mean..." she giggled again louder and he blushed even deeper.  
  
"Squall!" she said, tapping him lightly "don't worry so much" he felt a relief spread like a coolant up his form, a release. She saw him cool a bit laughed again, but this time it was more slyly.  
  
"I didn't say you were going to get away that easily..." he stopped again, wary now. Before he had time to react Rinoa was reaching across the table and their lips met. A furore spread through him now, but she wasn't there for long. She was teasing him, breaking off and taking his hands. She leaned in again and he moved to her but she held him off with her free hand and whispered in his ear  
  
"Ickle Squallie been thinking naughty thoughts huh?" she felt his body tense at her words, and knew that she had gone one step too far. But Squall seemed reluctant to move from this position, so she decided to give him some time. She felt him slowly relaxing and after a while decided to continue.  
  
Moving slowly and carefully, she moved across his face brushing his lips with hers. Then she moved in. With a rush of anticipation, she pressed her mouth against his. At first he seemed reluctant to respond; to him this more daring side of her was still new to him, but he decided to take advantage of the moment and let her move more freely. She parted her lips slightly, and he followed in her suit. Then she went in, her tong making caresses and flicks that knocked that breath out of both of them. He tasted her, intertwining with her tong and pulling, moving, smoothing around. She moved around, exploring, finding passages and surfaces that gave her a rush of adrenaline. Slowly they moved out, going backwards, retreating slightly; each other's tastes lingering like a blast of warm air to their senses. As they broke, they both gasped for breath, taking in then darting back to each other, caressing but not entering. At length they broke away; Rinoa was now basically standing over Squall. She fell back to her seat. He stared at her, his ice-blue eyes peering past her low flesh-barrier and into a deeper part of her: into her very soul. They breathed calmer, slowing down, committing the moment to memory forever.  
  
"Rinoa..." she looked up at him, surprised that he had started first, but then a nagging doubt pulled at her; what if he was going to tell her off for 'showing signs of affection in garden public areas'? Silently she wondered what he would say.  
  
"...We have to go see Cidd." She smiled and stood up; right now, she couldn't have thought of anything more perfect.

* * *

Authors Note: thanks for reviewing all. This was another quite fluffy chapter (glad I got some Squinoa stuff in, though). Hope you liked it. I promise, next chapter will have some actual plot in it (wow!). Basically for my first fic here I wanted to have something which was interesting but not too intense. I'm planning on getting Squall and Rinoa off on a holiday together; but the basic idea is that they are trying to connect more-to realise that they really do love each other etc. Rinoa's dreams are really only a starting point for their search to find each other. Hopefully my writing skills will improve as they go along. Thanks, please RR! Knighted 


	3. Cidd's Lecture

Disclamer: I don't own FF8 or Square or any of the characters. I do own myself, which is unfortunate because I hate myself at this particular moment in time.

I'm really sorry I didn't update for ages. I've basically had no time for fanfiction in the past month, lots of things have come up and that but it's not much of an excuse. So sorry all. Also I haven't been able to review anyone for the same reasons. Again I'm sorry, and I will eventually be able to review but there is a heck of a lot of reading I have to do. I'll get through it all eventually. Thanks. Knighted  
  
Chapter 3: Cidd's Lecture  
  
By Knighted 

* * *

"Crap, they're coming!" hissed Zell. They jumped up, alarmed.  
  
"They're coming closer! Come on, run!" Selphie and Irvine turned and ran, down the siding off the cafeteria and onto the main walkway. As Zell moved to follow them, he heard a light voice calling to him. He winced and slowly shuffled round to face Squall and Rinoa, who were just coming out of the eating hall, Rinoa looking quizzical and Squall's expression shifting into suspicion then anger.  
  
"Watcha doing still here, Zell?" Rinoa asked, innocently.  
  
"Oh hi, Rinoa... I was just... washing some things..." he indicated feebly to the water underneath the metal path that they were walking on. Rinoa looked at the blond martial artist, amazed and confused.  
  
"Washing... some things...?!"  
  
"Um, yeh, well, I've got to go, uh-see ya!" he turned and ran off. The couple paused.  
  
"...what... was that about?" Rinoa asked.  
  
"N-never mind" Squall said hurriedly "let's just get up to Cidd's office. He's probably wondering where I am anyway." She smiled and they proceeded round the circular way and up to the elevator, in the central column of the structure.  
  
"So... do you think they'll have any answers to... the dreams?" Rinoa asked. Squall sighed, pressed the call button for the lift, which dropped down to their level, and they stepped in. There was a rushing noise as the lift doors closed, and they sped upwards to the top level.  
  
"I don't know, Rin... I really have no idea what to do. But, if anyone on the planet might know anything about it, Edea or Cidd will." The girl nodded mutely, stepping out into the atrium of the new offices. Squall glanced at his own office's door on the right of the lift up to the garden's helm and mentally reminded himself to check the cadet application forms when he got down to work. Cidd's office was on the left, and they stepped up to it, Squall getting a slight jolt of nervousness which always came when he was seeing his boss. He rapped curtly on the door, which was flung open to reveal the large figure of the headmaster, pacing back and forth infront of his desk, which was overflowing with a thousand-and-one different papers. The headmaster glanced up at the two teenagers.  
  
"Come in Commander, Rinoa." They stepped forward, and they swivelled round as the door shut behind them. Edea smiled at them, sweeping her dark hair back with a pail hand.  
  
"Hi matron. We were wondering if you..." now that it came down to it, Squall had no idea how to ask help from the older two. Edea moved behind Cidd's desk, and the 'youngsters' moved forward to the seats in front of the desk. Edea saved the trouble of phrasing the question Squall wanted to ask by saying it for him.  
  
"You wanted to ask about Sorceress matters."  
  
"...right."  
  
"What's been happening?" Squall was taken back by the directness of the question.  
  
"We..." once again he wondered how to say it. Rinoa helped him out.  
  
"I've been having... dreams." Cidd looked politely questioning.  
  
"It's always the same dream, I just ignored it as a nightmare at first, but it's been becoming clearer recently. I-"  
  
"How long have the visions been going on for?" Squall frowned. Visions? What did Edea mean?  
  
"About two months now." Rinoa replied. Edea looked down, thinking busily.  
  
"That would be something like eight months since the Ultimacia affair?" the Sorceress nodded.  
  
"Enough time to get over the initial shock and euphoria from the victory." Edea murmured to herself. Squall looked questioningly from one to the other. Edea explained.  
  
"I believe that, since I inherited Ultimacia's powers, then Rinoa inherited my powers, that she also inherited a... shadow of Ultimacia. This figure may also have darker potential. It may be a representation of the most dangerous thing to you; your powers. The temptation to use them for your own uses. This happened to me when I first got powers. I also had these dreams, and I think that they may develop more under conditions of stress." Rinoa looked puzzled.  
  
"Conditions... of stress? I don't understand."  
  
"I don't know what it could be; or whether my theory is actually correct. I don't know anything for certain. This is just my advice. It could be right or wrong – but you are the ones who have to work that out." The atmosphere was electric, a sense of unknown territory being discovered here, in this room. The young couple glanced at each other, in near-equal confusion. They looked back towards the desk in time to catch Cidd give a huge yawn. All faces in the office turned to stare at him. There was a pause.  
  
"Anyway..." Cidd ventured. Squall almost visibly jumped, startled out of his silent amusement at Cidd.  
  
"Is that it?" he asked Edea. She smiled.  
  
"No. That's not going to be it, well not in the big picture of things. There will be other hurdles after this one. But you're going to have to take them one at a time." Squall nodded, still not really understanding what she meant. Rinoa rose and followed him to the door. As it shut behind them, Squall turned towards her.  
  
"Did you understand any of that?"  
  
"I think I may have taken in a bit more than you. Come on, I'll explain." 

----------------

"What she, Edea, means is that Ultimacia's powers were passed onto me, via her; you saw her receive Ultimacia's powers. Not too long after that, she started experiencing these dreams that I've been having. Ultimacia passed on some sort of shadow of herself with those powers. Because she was evil, her 'shadow' seems to represent the temptations that a Sorceress' powers, my powers, have to use them for bad purposes. I inherited Edea's powers, which means I also got Ultimacia's powers as well. I didn't start having the dreams until afterwards because of the effects that our experiences had on me." She lay back on Squall's bed. He pondered what she'd said. It seemed to make sense enough, although it was worrying. To be honest, he never really thought about Rinoa as a Sorceress. She was just... Rin. Although, 'just Rin' was a lot more to him than that. But there was something missing.  
  
"Rin... Edea said something about 'conditions of stress'. What did she mea..." he stopped, turning his concerned frown on the figure lying on his bed.  
  
"Rin, are you happy he-" she interrupted him  
  
"Squall, I'm as confused as you are on that. I'm perfectly happy here." Suddenly he thought of something.  
  
"What... what do you do all day? I never really thought to ask." He looked concerned again and she giggled.  
  
"Don't worry so much! I just, do general stuff. I read, take Angelo out for walks, go into Balam... sometimes I even train. I meet up with the guys on there free periods, chat and stuff."  
  
"You don't get bored? You know, same thing over and over again?" she laughed, and he felt that now-familiar leap in his chest.  
  
"Why would I?! Anyway, look at what you do all day-sign papers, review contracts, sign papers... sometimes you must read a letter! How exiting!" Her sarcasm made him grin.  
  
"Oh, it's not too bad... coming home every evening to a beautiful girl..." he went slightly red in surprise at his own comment. He always found it all too easy talking to her. She was grinning herself as she pulled him down into a kiss that, to both of them, seemed to last a lifetime. 

---------

"So, what happened then?" an eager student asked Zell in a hushed voice as he hurried to keep up with the martial-artist. The crowd of SeeDs round him pressed in closer. Zell continued  
  
"So then, he's leaning over her, and he kisses her, right there in the cafeteria!" the girls in the 'audience' gasped.  
  
"No way, you've got to be kidding us. I don't believe it."  
  
"It's true, although I have to agree, it doesn't seem... ya know... in character for him." Zell admitted.  
  
"Maybe..." a young guy said in a hushed voice "maybe it's not really him. Maybe it's someone disguised as him. The whole crowd stopped, staring at him. A deep voice at the back growled  
  
"Somehow I don't think that's likely." The crowds gaze focussed on Squall Leonhart.  
  
"I think this is the part where you say you've got things to do and rush off?" the crowd quickly dispersed, leaving the now solitary blond informer cowering at the oncoming wrath. It didn't come. Zell quickly fell into pace with his friend and commander.  
  
"...someone been cheering you up, huh?" Zell offered. It was true that, by his normal standards, Squall should have been red-hot with fury at Zell by now.  
  
"I'm not above anger you know" growled the commander. Zell shut up for a while. Squall turned off towards the elevator, Zell continuing walking for a bit before he realised his absence. He called up to the retreating figure of Squall.  
  
"Hey where ya going?"  
  
"Oh, I've got some... stuff to do in my office. I'll grab some lunch later." Zell shrugged. It wasn't unusual of Squall to miss lunch for work, even on weekends like this. He proceeded to the Cafeteria, seeing the others at there customary table. Squall might have changed in some ways, but Zell found it hard to think of a non-working Squall. Then again he still found it hard to believe that his friend had changed so much. Suddenly he realised that about fifty cadets had run past him, into the cue for lunch, and he promptly barged them all out of the way.  
  
Rinoa looked up as Zell sat down opposite her. The others were deep in conversation around them.  
  
"Hey, where's Squall?" Zell laughed.  
  
"Not beatin around the bush, are ya?" he laughed harder as she went slightly red "He's gone up to his office for lunch. Said he had 'stuff' to do."  
  
"Weird... he hardly ever does that any more." She glanced at Zell.  
  
"I know, that's kind of what I thought." He replied, slightly more serious now "I think he's planning something." She stared at him.  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"I dunno... I've just got this feeling." He grinned. "anyway, if there is something, it's for you." She chuckled.  
  
"Maybe you're right, Zell. I suppose... he'll talk later." 

---------

That evening, as Rinoa was preparing to say goodnight to Squall, he stopped her outside his room.  
  
"Rin... can you come in for a sec? I kind of need to talk to you." She looked at him, head on one side, remembering talking to Zell at lunch.  
  
"Sure." He fumbled for his keycard, quickly swiping it through the slot to the side of the door and pushing through. He gestured her in, and she noticed that his hands were moving more awkwardly than usual. He sat down on the bed and ran his hand through his hair.  
  
"Squall, what is it?" she asked, puzzled by his air of nervousness. He took a deep breath.  
  
"Well, I've been thinking today, about what Edea said and things, and I kind of came to a conclusion." He looked up at her, and she lost herself in his eyes, those swirling pools of ice.  
  
"What?" she breathed, sitting down next to him. He stared into her face, the face that had brought him so much joy over the last few months, and prayed to Hyne that she would say yes.  
  
"Rin... will you go on holiday with me?" 

* * *

I'll update sooner from now on. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you didn't then... oh well. It was a really short chapter, even though I thought it was going to be long... 

Pls r an r!

Thanks,

Knighted 


	4. Plans

Disclaimer: I don't own Square _or_ FF8. How can this be??? Don't sue pls.

**Sorry (again) for being away.** Soon I'm goin back to school so I should have more time for writing, and catching up on the massive amount of reading and reviewing I've got to do. I'll be updating soon; thanks all for reviews etc.

* * *

Knighted

Chapter 4: Plans

By Knighted

---------------------

By Monday lunchtime, almost the entire garden knew that the great commander Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly the Sorceress were going on holiday together. Even though everyone in the Garden knew that the two had been an 'item' for almost a year, anyone who knew Squall hadn't really believed that he'd changed so much; until now. It seemed to Squall that half of the Garden lived off gossip, although it probably helped to break up the monotony of the routine life of a SeeD. Zell said that something must have slipped. Someone must have told someone. But who could it have been???

"Someone who knew, Zell? Someone like you?" questioned Squall at the lunch table. Zell left pretty quickly, even for him. There wasn't really any need to ask the questions. It was blindingly obvious that it had been Zell who first talked about it, that he wasn't so much annoyed as amused. Then again, he didn't get so annoyed any more. Not with Rin around.

It seemed that even Zell realised that it was obvious that he had told everyone. Late at night, Squall woke to the sound of urgent knocking on the door. Must be Rinoa. His mind began to fill with worry as he extracted himself from his sheets. Was she having the dreams _again_? He half ran to the door, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and tore it open. He stared. Zell was standing there, slightly shaking, in his usual clothes. The digital clock in the hallway showed 4:30am. The only thought seeping through Squalls mind was What. The. Hell.

"Hey... I've been thinking... about stuff, and I decided to come out straight to ya. I... I told everyone about that... holiday plan of yours."

Squalls eyes widened until Zell thought his eyebrows had actually disappeared. Then, carefully and slowly, He shut the door. Zell shrugged and walked back to his room. Squall was asleep before he hit the bed.

---------------------

A voice, cool, husky, carrying an amazing scent with it filtered through Squall's shrouds of sleep.

"So... when's the big event going to happen, huh?" Big event? What big event? What was happening?

"In short, when are you going to get up?" Ah. That voice, the scent, he knew them. The question now was, how did they get into his room?

"Also, in case you were wondering, I 'borrowed' your spare key card when you weren't looking, which is how I got in here." Squall jumped up, hardly hearing the bump and cursing as Rinoa hit the floor by his bed. He looked around wildly. Who was it in the room? The voice came back to him. He peered over the side of his bed to find the dishevelled form of his angel nursing her back.

"Ow... did you have to get up so hard?" he rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Well I think it was the bit about someone having taken my key card that did it." She scowled

"Will you help me up already?" He extended a hand, which she grasped. He then pulled, sending her flying up towards him, knocking his head back into the wall. As his vision cleared he peered up to see Rinoa straddling him. He gulped.

"So... someone wants to play...?" He winced

"Ah... Rin... I didn't mean-" her finger pushed onto his lips.

"Shh..."

"Rin?" he yelped, panicking as she snaked her way up to his face. She closed in, pressing her mouth against his, and he felt all resistance give way. His walls crumbled, and he relaxed. He ran his hands up and down her back, which arched and twisted at his touch. They entered each other, their tongs passing and tugging, gently caressing. He felt himself letting go, falling into a blissful abyss.

The door opened, and a muscular blond figure walked in. The person stared, and walked out. Squall yelled. Carefully placing Rinoa on the bed, he jumped up and ran to the door, only to find Zell gone. He trudged slowly back into the room. She sat up on his bed.

"Uh... I guess I forgot to lock the door behind me." He stared at her for a moment, and remembered that it had been Zell who had come in and seen them. He walked out again.

Squall jogged along the walkway, eyes flicking back and forth, looking for Zell. By the martial artist's current standards the 'story' of how he saw the Commander at it again would be half way across garden already and spreading. He caught a glimpse of blond hair moving into the training centre hallway, and turned off to follow it. As he entered the corridor off to the centre, he remembered that it was closed for maintenance. Who would be going into the training centre then? He stepped forward and his silent question was answered by a blond haired girl, presumably the hair that he'd seen coming into the hallway, breaking off from her 'intimacy' with what was probably her partner, to look round and see who was coming. Her eyes rose to those of her commander, and she gave an involuntary whimper. Her partner looked round. Squall stared back at them both against the wall.

"Commander, I know what this looks like..." she began. He put his head in his hands, and turned around to walk back out, just as a blond guy ran into him. Squall reeled back into the wall, and whipped round into the features of Zell, who realised that he had just run into the person he'd been trying to avoid. He in turn put his head in his hands and groaned. Squall burst out at him

"Zell! What are you, matchmaker-man?!?! First you walk in on me and Rin and now..." he suddenly came to himself and realised what he'd just said. Acting swiftly, he grabbed Zell and yanked him out of the corridor. The couple in the hallway looked after them and simultaneously turned back to each other.

"So... where were we?" asked the man against the wall.

---------------------

"Squall, what were you doing in there?" asked Zell as he was dragged like a dog through the halls of Balam garden. The answer came growled.

"Looking for you."

"Why?" Squall stopped dead on the now empty pathway-most of the occupants of the garden were in classes, or on missions in the cases of SeeDs. He half-yelled at Zell

"So you wouldn't go and talk to the entire cadet population of this place about what goes on in my, _own_, room with me and Rin. By rights you shouldn't know."

"Hey, what happened to the slightly more cheerful Squall we were getting used to knowing?" Zell knew as soon as the words came out of his mouth that it was the wrong thing to say. Squall just managed to mutter through gritted teeth

"Go. Away. Now." Zell took the hint and fled. Squall shouted after him

"Talk about it and you die, Zell."

---------------------

It seemed that Squall's friend really had taken the hint and not told anyone, because, as Squall entered the cafeteria that evening, the noise level dropped only slightly, which was better than it had been the day before, although the glances, and on a few occasions stifled laughs as he passed tables.

"What am I, a menagerie for the garden's amusement?" he grumbled as he sat down at the table, opposite Irvine, glaring round at his observers on the other tables, who went back to their meals quickly.

"Heck, I'd be grateful for all the attention from all those lovely ladies over there" commented Irvine, tipping his customary cowboy hat at a few SeeDs of the feminine persuasion passing their table, earning himself a kick in his bruised shin from Selphie. Even through his anger, Squall smiled and shook his head. It was going to be longer than it was for Squall before Irvine changed.

"I don't know how you expect to keep him looking at you, Selph," commented Squall's significant other from the left of Irvine. He turned to look at her and she winked. Selphie answered her question

"Shock therapy" she demonstrated by kicking him in the same place as before as his attention began to wander to a few of the older girls in the corner, making him wince

"It'll work eventually. It's a tried and tested method you know." Shizuka the library girl giggled, and Selphie turned a grin on her.

"No, seriously! I heard from Quistus that it worked great with Seifer!" So that's where Quistus is tonight Squall thought, suddenly noticing her absence.

"She had to do that with Seifer?" he asked sceptically. His rival had never seemed to have much public interest in the ladies before he met Quistus; he was the head of the 'disciplinary committee', which had been abolished after his disappearance in Timber, and was usually prosecuting girls for breaking some rule or other, not eyeing them up.

"Oh, you're not the only one who changed a bit after the Sorceress thing." Rinoa informed him "apparently, after his... you know... _desires_ to be a 'knight' were gone, Seifer started to let on his other... wishes... involving his more masculine side." The supposedly mature 'ladies' round the table burst into muffled fits of giggles, as Squall tried to decide whether to be angry or amused. Selphie wrapped it up

"But the, uh... therapy worked apparently" after which she leaned across to Rinoa and whispered

"Among other more interesting methods of, er... persuasion no doubt." Which made them both double up with laughter again. Squall glanced across at Irvine and Zell, and shrugged. 'Who knows?' said his gesture. They seemed to agree, although, as usual, he wasn't quite sure what Irvine was thinking.

---------------------

Squall accosted Rinoa after the rest of their companions had left for their respective rooms.

"Hey, Rin, I was wondering whether you could come in to discuss... things." As she walked through the doorway, he admired her form, curving, smooth and delicate, entrancing...

"Squall!" He looked further up to the region of her face, which was currently half surprised, but almost on the verge of laughter. He suddenly realised how blatantly he had been ogling her.

"Rin, I'm sorry, I just... uh" he didn't know what to say really. He couldn't read any feeling from her face; was she angry, was she amused and about to laugh at his foolishness? He didn't know. So much of this, of _her _was still foreign to him. Sometimes he was lost in her, in her actions and emotions. Sometimes he just didn't know what to do, and, if he was honest with himself, this frightened him. Before her, nothing had been unplanned, he was in control of the situation and, he had thought, his life. She had saved him from his stifled suffering, but the life preserver came with a price; uncertainty.

She came closer, face more serious now, more intense. She reached up and placed her delicate arms around his neck, pushing to him. He felt himself tensing, as a not-yet-familiar sensation filled him like a warm liquid flowing into him. He felt her body pressed against him, put his arms around her, her scent filling his senses. She smelt his cologne, feeling a pressure building up in her, one that made her excited and one that she knew she must keep under control, unlike the emotion that penetrated her now, one of comfort, tenderness. Without knowing it he caressed her hair, its silkiness making him lust after her, to touch her, voicing secret unnamed desires. He, too, knew to suppress these. Their common love had been building over the last year, strengthening like a growing community, tight-nit. For now, it was just them, him and her, in their own private world which no-one could change. Her voice, like music, moved into their place. She looked up at him seriously, brushing the hair from around his eyes. She spoke from her very heart. This was something that was new to her, too; Seifer was never this to her.

"Squall... don't worry so much about what you do, what you feel. This is new to me too... I don't know what's going to happen. Right now, it's just us. Don't live in the past or the future... wondering what's going to happen or what happened. Just feel." And he smiled.

"Rinoa... we have a holiday to plan."

---------------------

An hour later she was lying on his bed, as he sat at his computer terminal, surfing the internet for holiday choices, and offering likely ones to her. She listened to his deep voice, resonating and moving into her, through her. She spent what felt like years dwelling on a single sound from that mouth, that haven. She drifted on dreams of him...

"Rin?" his soft calling awoke her from her pondering and she looked up. He was seated next to her head, smiling down at her.

"You awake?" he asked her quietly.

"Of course" she moved to get up, but he lightly put out his hand to stop her. As she moved up to his hand he realised where he had it. To late. He winced as his hand made contact with her chest. He quickly moved his hand away, properly ashamed of himself. Of the many embarrassing situations that seemed to have occurred today, this just had to cap it he thought.

"Rin, I didn't mean... it was an accident. I'm sorry." He looked up at her, ready to beg her to stay, when he caught her naughty expression.

"Oh, Squall, I told you not to worry about that sort of thing... you really shouldn't disobey me, you know..." these sudden moods of hers scared him, and he thought of getting up... but then, she knew what she was doing, right? She placed a graceful, slender hand on his chest, and pushed him back onto the bed, catching him off-guard. She stood up and pounced on him, laying herself on him. His heart hammered in his chest, as did hers, though he didn't know it. She had never felt so close to him before. He was half terrified, half excited. She moved her body up to him, and kissed him. The electricity was almost palpable in the air, the energy streaming through their lips as they moved closer, their legs intertwining. How could this be possible? He thought of her beauty, of how lucky he was to have found her. She thought of the meaning of this moment; this was no one-night stand with Seifer. This was real. They indulged in one another's tastes and textures. He ran his hand down her back to her thigh, caressing. Suddenly she broke off. She took his hand and placed it on her chest, on her ring. The stark contrast of the cool metal to her soft skin showed another beauty to him, another warmth. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the bare skin under her sinuous but somehow still delicate neck. The hand which had brought death to many now brought something almost like new life to one person. She interrupted his thoughts, trying hard to keep her voice steady with the feel of his touch enveloping her

"Squall... didn't you have something to show me?" her words brought a gasp to his mouth. What did she mean?! She giggled at his reaction, and pointed down to the papers from his holiday research on the computer, now scattered on the floor. Of course. He was overreacting as usual to Rinoa's actions. He picked up the papers and made some attempt at tidying himself up, straightening his ruffled hair. She smiled at his actions; even after something as intimate as what they had just experienced, Squall still seemed to be able to make things suddenly formal. He thoughts were contradicted when he placed himself back on the bed, sitting up against the wall. He stretched his free arm out for her, putting his head on one side and giving her a questioning look. She answered him by shuffling up and leaning back on him, as he put his arm round her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. She thought that might be one of the great things about him-the security. He handed her a piece of paper, and she looked over it-a tropical sandy retreat, beaches, palm-trees, clear sea, the usual stuff. Her eyes trailed down to a number at the bottom of the page. Her eye widened.

"Um... how much are you paying for this?" he attempted to snatch the paper away from her, but she was too quick.

"Well, however much it takes" he coughed and looked away.

"Squall it says 40'000 gill here!" he reddened, feigning surprise.

"...Yes?"

"How do you expect to afford this?" he shifted her across do that she was sitting across his lap.

"Look, _sweetheart_, we didn't spend all that time training before facing Ultimacia just to get better at fighting. And when you're Commander you don't get payed _too_ badly. It's not as if I spend much anyway." She frowned

"But still, you don't need to spend half that much to find a descent place."

"What?" he looked startled, and she sighed.

"I guess you just don't know how to plan a holiday, do you?" a hint of amusement showed in her face.

"Yeh, well it's not like I've ever had one before." He said, slightly annoyed at her presumptuousness. She stared at him. She had never truly admitted to herself that he'd missed so much of life. Now she understood why he seemed so... ignorant of some things. It was because he had never experienced these experiences which she took for granted. His face softened and she spoke

"Squall... I'm sorry. I just take all these things for granted... I sometimes forget that you haven't been everywhere I've been." He smiled, and looked down to the papers again.

"Here... what about this one" he handed her a piece. She skimmed over it and looked up at him, sceptical.

"Dollet?"

* * *

That's it for the moment people. Thanks so much for the reviews, they really make me want to write more so please keep on reviewing!

This chapter was... slightly different from the previous ones, but hopefully you liked it just the same. Or not.

Thanks,

Knighted


	5. Cid's LecturePart Two?

Disclaimer 5: Judgement day Disclaimer. I'll tell everyone when I own FF8 and Squaresoft, although by then it will already be to late to stop my master plan... For now though, please don't sue.

* * *

Knighted

Chapter 5: Cid's Lecture-Part 2

By knighted

---------------------------------

"Wish me luck" Squall murmured in a slightly brighter than usual monotone. Rinoa was beginning to find that she was noticing these things more lately. It seemed that, slowly, every hour of contact that he had with Rinoa, Squall changed. Not noticeably at first, not at all; in fact it was so slow it would have been perhaps more exciting to watch the movement of a tectonic plate for a whole year, but he was changing. It was inexorable, as if the mere nearness to his 'Angel's' presence was gradually grinding down his barriers. And she was certain, _almost_ certain, that he didn't mind at all. Sometimes she worried, when thinking in her, and indeed his, room at night, whether when he was really more changed whether he would actually be Squall any more-the Squall she loved and cared for-or some stranger who she had inadvertently created. She still woke up sweating at nights sometimes from dreams, now not only of some sort of return of Ultimacia, but also of losing Squall, of being without him or away from him... or him going on a mission and not coming back. He hardly ever went away on missions now, but it did not make her any more comfortable when he did. She knew that he was the best of the Garden, but anything could happen when you're running up a beach of deep sand towards chain-gun posts and there're shells exploding around you. He knew she was frightened; anyone could see it in her eyes. That was why he kept missions to a minimum, but he had been trained from pre-schooling years to fight, and she understood that he had to get out of his be-papered office every once in a while, just like he understood that she didn't like him going away on missions. She shuddered. They could cross that particular hurdle when they came to it.

She drifted down out of her thinking tangent gently to find a heavy hand on her shoulder, and Squall's pale, ice blue eyes lay upon her with a quizzical look.

"It's been two minuets. You gonna wish me luck yet?" she giggled lightly and slapped softly on the wrist.

"Ok, ok commander. I was just planning my move" he smiled and she moved up to meet his lips, finding it hard to draw away before they both got too engrossed and forgot Squall's meeting with Cid.

"See you later" he pushed the panel on the side of the reinforced steel door, and darted into the Headmaster's office. The door shut behind him. Rinoa smiled, putting her fingertips to her lips where she had kissed him. Then she walked back down the corridor to join her friends at breakfast.

---------------------------------

Squall had to stifle a yawn as he walked towards the Headmaster, who was seated as usual behind his today relatively clean desk. It was important that he saw the Headmaster today, but he wished that he hadn't had to get up so early to please the Head; Cid had always encouraged an early start, and it would be a good way to please him before the young man brought the bad news. In fact, he himself had once promoted early mornings, before the Ultimacia affair. Actually he would actually never have promoted anything at that time. It had been worse for Squall's 'significant other', although at 7:00am in the morning she was anything other than significant. Then again Rin never was a mornings person, he conceded.

He stopped almost exactly two foot in front of the softwood desk, stood to attention, and saluted smartly. Cid nodded approvingly and motioned to the hard plain chair before his desk. Squall smiled inwardly. _Score one for me_, he thought. _Argh! Now I've even adopted Rin's phrasings. And that name... Rin. Where did that come from...?_ He pondered quickly on how fast things had gone, and then suddenly noticed that his superior was looking at him. The old man chuckled,

"Drifted off there for a second, Commander? At ease, Squall." He reluctantly eased himself more into the wooden chair that was his seat. With Rinoa, what Cid had said would have seemed amusing if it was Rinoa, but without her everything seemed different. Even a quick glance towards each other across a crowded room and they could understand each other's amusement. It might seem silly to her to have their small secrets and ways together, but Squall somehow didn't think so. He was beginning to be able to predict her actions and thoughts-to really get to know her-and sometimes it seemed more than that, as if he could actually tell what she was thinking occasionally. Perhaps it was all part of the bonding in this Sorceress/Knighted relationship thing. He supposed he ought to smile at the man's comment anyway, so as not to be rude if he wanted to ask him this favour.

Cid shuffled some papers haphazardly, as if he didn't really get any of it, and then gave Squall an uncomfortably sharp look. Then he looked down and sighed slightly, leaning back and steepling his fingers as he glanced over his spectacles at his Commander.

"Well? Give it to me straight. What _is_ the bad news?" he was amazed at the Headmaster's directness to the point. Usually the guy would go on for ages in some speech about his open feelings on the matter or what Squall was going to ask him or why he should be here or whatever. Squall straightened up and, taking a deep breath, began.

"We... Miss Heartilly and I, have been thinking, and talking."

"Undoubtedly." Commented Cid dryly "By the way, please call her Rinoa, Squall." He had to stop himself from scowling. How can he just say that, as if it meant nothing...? Sometimes the guy confused Squall. He realised he was overreacting again, and calmed himself.

"Ok then, Rinoa and I have been talking, Sir, about the things Edea told us in the meeting we had a while ago." Squall noticed his phrase, 'a while ago'. Not a year ago he would have stated the precise date, opening time and contents of the 'meeting'. Cid seemed to notice it as well, suddenly smiling wryly.

"...and you came to the conclusion...?" the Headmaster quietly pushed.

"We came to the conclusion that perhaps Garden life might be... too _stressful_" Squall indicated the word sardonically, as if nothing could be too hard for his 'sweetheart' "for Rinoa." He continued.

"So we decided to go... away." In a fraction of a second, Cid's eyebrows seemed to have disappeared to somewhere on the top of his head, and his eyes widened until they looked in near danger of popping out. He managed to gasp

"L-leave...?" Squall stared. He had seen Cid mad, even shouting, but he had never seen the man so panicked before. Cid stood up shakily

"B-but Squall! You can't just go! Can't you see I need you here to help me? N-no! I... I forbid you to leave. I need you as Commander, to share some of the load." Squall stood up. He couldn't believe the guy. He half shouted at the Headmaster

"What? You dumped this responsibility on me!" half afraid of what his superior might thing of him, he continued, "I never wanted all this damn paperwork! I never wanted to be Commander! Can't you see that?!?! I never-"

He stopped, and noticed that the older man was almost cowering away from him in the corner. Breathing deeply, he looked up at Cid's shocked face

"Anyway, my contract ends in four months time. Who will you run to then?" the large man across from him stood up and looked slightly shifty.

"Yes, well, we'll talk about that later..." Cid glanced to the side, as if some more large, gunblade-wielding young men would start coming out of the walls and berating him.

"It's only a week, anyway." Grumbled Squall embarrassedly, eyes down. It was the first time he'd actually shouted at anyone, apart from Zell who didn't really count, let alone his boss. He looked up and saw the latter man staring again, and Squall braced himself for another outburst, but Cid just hobbled over to his chair and dropped into it, shielding his eyes with his hand. He murmured weakly

"Only a week...? I thought you were going for good!" this time it was his turn to stare. Then slowly, as realisation dawned, Squall slapped his hand to his forehead. In the heat of the moment as he told Cid that they were going away, he forgot one vital detail; it was a holiday. Only a week. Cid had thought that he meant to leave garden entirely. That was something he wasn't going to do for... well he hadn't even thought about it. Cid piped up again

"Go, fine, do whatever you want, I don't really mind." Squall sighed with relief, glad to be allowed to go, turning towards the door. As he reached for the handle the Headmaster of Garden permitted him one last word

"But... Squall? Be careful, will you?"

---------------------------------

"How'd it go?" whispered Rinoa into Squall's ear as he joined her at a table-for-two in the dining hall at lunch. Squall enjoyed the sensation of her light breath on his face for a moment, having to pry himself away from almost overwhelming desired to kiss her in front of the whole hall right then. Perhaps some other time. For now he answered her.

"Well... it was kind of a shouting match, if I think about it." She looked amazed that her Squall could do anything like shouting, but then her face fell, and Squall's heart ached.

"So... we can't go?" he realised her unhappiness immediately,

"No, no; I neglected to add that it was just a week's holiday-so he thought I was leaving Garden and... everything. For good." Just for a second, Squall was almost sure that he could see a flicker of wistfulness cross her perfect features at his last comment. He wondered... but not now. Concentrate on the present.

"So... we're all set..." he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, wondering what to say. Rinoa smiled at him, his face set in concentration, while her own mind drifted back to her wistful glance which she was sure Squall noticed. She tried to push all wishes to leave garden out of her mind; it was her home, now, there was no-where else to go. And he could not imagine living anywhere else-he couldn't even remember half of Edea's Orphanage because of the effects of the GFs on his memory.

"When are we leaving?" she quietly questioned. He frowned again,

"I don't know... I never really thought about it. When do you think?"

"Well, it's almost summer... why not now? Before the crowds?" Squall pondered this. It often surprised him when Rin spouted bits of information like this, he guessed it was because of his view of her when she was still the 'princess' of the forest Owls.

"...yeh, I guess that's fine. I suppose we can just pack and leave. I don't really want another confrontation with Cid. Maybe we should ask Quistus or Xu to tell him." Rinoa gasped, her fork halfway to her open mouth.

"Commander? But leaving without expressed permission and timing conformations is against-" Squall interrupted her

"-act 1472, chapter 3, verse 14. Yes, I know, but I really can't be bothered to face down the Head again." She smiled, and his heart felt like it was being compressed slowly. When she smiled, all his troubles, worries, everything but him and her just dropped away; it was unimportant.

"Heck, I guess you really are changing." He frowned... a sensation of agrievement came over him at her comment. His heart sank in his chest, and the rest of the world seemed to thump back into place as he descended from the high point she herself had given him

"Do you really have so little faith in me?" he spat bitterly. She was shocked at his reaction

"Squall, no!" he looked up into her eyes, eyes full of pain and pity, and saw that he had caused that pain, that wound to her by his spiteful retort-who cares if she had joked about him, he realised that it was a joke now, that she would never accuse him or insult him deliberately. She looked down at her plate, playing with her fingers. Tentatively her voice penetrated his senses, husky now and deeper

"I can... I can make it up to you..." Squall stared up at her face, the locks of hair falling over her eyes which stared almost seductively up at him, felt a need, a calling so strong that he could hardly suppress it. Slowly, he smiled.

"Well... maybe not now... but, ah, you owe me one; if you catch my drift?" she burst out laughing, a tension released in both their stomachs. For the first time they noticed the stares of the other tables around them, the stares which nonchalantly returned to their plates as he looked round at them. Rinoa covered her mouth with her hands, her delicate shoulders still shaking with surprised laughter at her Knight's comment. She kicked him lightly under the table, and lent over to whisper in his ear

"More time for that later..." she leant back, winking. He grinned at her playfulness, knowing she was only joking. Or was she? Still he could never be sure what was going to happen when he was around her, he thought back to his fleeting anger only minuets ago; his mood was so volatile around her, and he knew that the same went for her. Was she joking? Did he want her to be joking? Those were some of the many questions he asked himself at night as the deep blinds of sleep closed about him, sometimes with Rinoa lying in his arms, her heavy head resting on his shoulder. His smile remained soft as he placed his eyes on hers.

"Maybe, Rin. Maybe..."

* * *

Well, I thought that was a good end to a chapter, even if you didn't. Hopefully someone will review this chapter, but if not, I'm just going to keep writing anyway.

Thanks for all your reviews so far, I apologise for my slackness in writing.

Thanks,

Knighted

614537.doc 16/09/04 13:18hrs Theo Lester (Hf) L5th


	6. Many Partings

Disclaimer: this is it. The great disclaimer... get ready. I don't own FF8 or Square yet, so don't sue... not yet...

Bit of Seiftis in here, I'm not so good at it, but hopefully it will please some. Large chunks of italics means a flashback sequence. This is the longest chapter so far. I hope ya don't get bored.

_May it be an evening star___

_Shines down upon you_

_May it be when darkness falls_

_Your heart will be true_

_You walk a lonely road_

_Oh how far you are from home_

_Darkness has come_

_Believe and you will find your way_

_Darkness has fallen_

_A promise lives within you now_

_Philippa Boyens_

Knighted

Chapter 6:Many Partings

_By Knighted _

* * *

"I still can't believe it." Squall turned to his friend angrily at the comment, who stepped away a bit from the brunet as they walked down the long road towards the town of Balamb. The raven-haired girl behind them smiled. Not so long ago her Knight would have dumped Zell in the disciplinary room for his words.

"Hey cool it Commander. I was just expressing my disbelief at you actually leaving work on the desk un-done. Rinoa smiled and, placing a hand on Squall's shoulder, looked sideways at Zell. Lowering her voice, she whispered huskily to Zell

"Oh, he's done a lot more than work on that desk recently... huh, _darling_?" she grinned evilly up at Squall's face, waiting for some sort of response as Zell's mouth opened ever wider. He spoke

"Oh, yeh, _darling_, I've done a lot more than that on it recently..." He informed them. Rinoa opened her mouth to laugh, and then suddenly registered what he had just said. Zell seemed to be having some sort of fit in a bush off the side of the road. She was about to utter a scream of indignation when Squall decided to finish off his statement

"Sleeping on it, for one thing." She stopped, and stared up at him. Zell looked up from his engagement in the bush. Then the blond man shook himself and stood up, jogging along to catch up with Squall. The two men continued their stately walk for a few seconds before they stopped, looking back to Rinoa who was still stood there with her mouth wide open.

"What? You said I'd been doing stuff on the desk." Squall questioned, looking sincerely concerned. She stood there. Zell turned back, and slowly collapsed to the ground, shaking with laughter. Squall's eyes began to crinkle, his shoulders heaved as he put his hand to his face, snorting. Rinoa looked at them, then leapt forward at her man, knocking him to the dirt.

"I'll give _you_ something to laugh about..." she lay upon him and kissed him. His lips were salty with tears of laughter, and she revelled in his soft touch. As soon as she was on him, he knew nothing else but her feel, the weight and pressures of her body on his, her scent; a scent of rosebuds but more amazing, more startling more brightening. They broke off and gazed into each other's eyes, lost with only each other. She nuzzled him with her face, looking into the eyes, once only a cold blue mist but now something warm, like a hot bath on a winters day. He looked to her eyes, the two pinpoints of light that were guiding him in the dark place, their hot irises of chocolaty brown swirling like an ocean. Those were eyes that you could drown in. And he wanted to.

A retching noise to their right lifted them out of the trance, sliding them slowly but inexorably down to the world. They looked sideways together, to see the form of Zell, bending over and making melodramatic noises of sickness. Squall sighed. Whatever happened, Zell would always react the same way. Lifting Rinoa almost bodily off him, he rolled up and grabbed the offending blond by the large extrusion of hair above his forehead. The man screamed, clawing at the swordsman's hand, but Squall dragged him slowly back towards the track. As they reached the track the iron-knuckled fists swung wildly at his abdomen, just catching him in a winding blow. The Knight dropped Zell, who laughed and ran backwards away down the path. Squall wheezed

"One surprise after another..."

He didn't know how true he was.

------------------------------------

Quistus sat at the polished desk, viewing its entire vast expanse; from the signing in-trays to the missions out-trays, the wooden structure stretched around her in a 12 metre long semicircle. She knew that because she had paced around it nervously several times before she had actually sat down behind the monstrosity. She fund comfort in bringing up the old exercises-one of the first was regulating the length of your step to a standard length, so that you could measure anything on the ground. But it looked smaller on the outside than on the inside; like that 'Tardis' time machine thing thought Quistus, remembering her days buried in the deeper reaches of the library reading ancient crusted books of wild science fiction and the like in places few people ever went nowadays. Yes, smaller on the outside, and bigger... oh so much bigger when you were sitting at it's crux, like driving an oceanic liner. She peered round to the edges of the swollen filling system again. She had known Squall was maybe a bit of a control freak, but it just seemed weird to be able to sort this amount of paper a day. And he said he hated it, too. She didn't doubt that-he had been brought up to fight. But the sheer volume... they must have a forklift to take all the 'out-' boxes away every day she wondered absentmindedly. She had thought that this was going to be easy, that Cidd would do most of the work...

The plain fact was, Quistus was bored. Always she had been so content at Garden, with her way of doing things. She had even found work enjoyable but now... Now something else was on her mind. A 'he' sort of something in fact. The sort of something she dreamed of. Seifer. He had smashed her world.

"_Quistus! Come back! Don't go!" Rinoa had said that, as she and Selphie had chased her to the docking bay where the Ragnarok was parked. But Squall held them back_

"_What are you doing?" screamed Rinoa, tears pouring down her face_

"_She'll be killed! Do SOMETHING!!!" but he stayed them. She was told afterwards by Rinoa, twisting her black hair in embarrassment as the three women chatted in her room afterwards that Squall had said, looking down at her_

"_Because I know how she feels..." and I turned, as if I sensed what he had said. He saluted me, the Commander, pride and obstinacy radiating from him. He **knew how it felt**. Knew how it felt to have a loved one in need-to realise that you do love truly, that you **can** love truly. And I stopped and saluted. Then ran. Ran my ass off._

_It had been a close thing. The execution was just about to proceed, one second... but that's one second I don't want to think about. It was like a horror film scene as I burst in with the ship, through the dome. The crowd, that Delling mob, cheering, screaming death to the persecutor who was now the persecuted in the middle, on a platform, and the officials in their black suits around him, my love, my only. Seifer would have been executed for his allegiance with the sorceress. But I saved him. I risked everything for him. He wasn't afraid when he stepped down from the upright platform, just angry. He grabbed the nearest official and threw him into the crowd. He would have killed them all, if I didn't grab him and shout some sense at him. It wasn't easy, with the crowd all around, grabbing at our legs. More than one Galbadian citizen will have whip marks on them today. Somehow we managed to fight our way back to the ship, and once in side, no man with no ground weapon save a large artillery piece could take down the Ragnarok._

_Cid had been angry. Angry as hell, actually. He threatened me with my job, my home at Garden, everything including, if I remember rightly, my life at some points. But I weathered the storm, waited for the Headmaster to blow himself out, to wearily turn me away back to my room. But I think, maybe, that there could have been a faint sense of pride in his voice as he threw me out of the room. And after that... Seifer. He saw me then, for the first time I think, without his cool-posse, without his bully mask. Saw me for what I was; what I am now, though... changed a bit. And we loved._

...And even Seifer had changed, after a while. His experiences with Ultimacia and Edea had sobered him-he was no longer the cocky striding leader of the feared Disciplinary committee. He himself had been disciplined, and where usually he would have scorned Quistus's weakness to leave everything to save him, he saw that weakness was what made people human, and that he himself had weaknesses. ...or something like that.

The young blond sighed, her heart aching for the man, for his soft caress which seemed to make the problems of life fall away like a loose burden. She smiled as her mind wandered again, back to his re-entering the Garden.

_The whole garden turned out for Seifer's return. They lined the corridor, still as the terracotta army. No sound penetrated the heavy air save the slow thunk of large boots and the swish of a now-tattered trench coat; a remnant of former glory, of dreams unconquered. Quistus led the betrayer down the avenue of silent faces, her delicate legs making no noise in the hushed atmosphere. But as the two walked past Zell, there was a low mutter of_

"_Well hey there, chicken-wus." Like a shot the martial artist was on him, a deft upper punch in just bellow the rib before Quistus had time to stop it. She reached for her whip, but another beet her two it. As Zell swung for another hit on the crouched and already bloodied Seifer, a loud voice shot out like a bell over the crowd_

"_Zell! Stop." Zell froze, and, not turning around, stood up and walked round behind the two as Quistus helped Seifer up. All other heads were on the Commander, standing menacingly, further down the aisle of uniformed men and women. Rinoa stood with him. Slowly the new couple began their procession towards the main garden, Zell trailing behind, a look of utter contempt on his usually smiling face. As they approached the Commander of Balamb Garden, Seifer looked up at the man. No expression could be read on Squall's face, save in his eyes, which were ice-cold with fury. Quistus stopped and steadied the man beside her. She looked from him to Squall, pleadingly_

"_Squall, we need to get him to the infirmary! He needs medical attention!" the Commander's face did not change. But he said, in a clear voice_

"_He shall not enter here."_

"_But Squall, look!" Quistus lifted up a flap of the grey coat, and a mixture of blood and threads poured out onto the floor. The people round them gasped, but that white face blocking the entrance did not move a millimetre. She looked up again at her superior, and stepped back. Suddenly Squall's face was a mask of fury, out of which his eyes shone like two beacons of a blizzard. Taller he seemed to stand, and those standing near felt a shiver run down their spines. The hall shrunk and darkened under the presence of the man standing at the end._

"_Didn't you hear me! The man will not enter my Garden!" he spat into the pool of Seifer's blood on the floor. The crowd gasped, and Rinoa stepped forward, putting a calming hand on Squall's arm. He spun around, and yelled to the back_

"_Someone get a janitor to clean up this mess! And call an ambulance. We need to get this fool to a hospital." Quistus and Seifer started to turn and walk away, but Squall spun back and grabbed the blond man's chin, bending down to Seifer's crouching figure. Face to face, they stared into one another's eyes. Seifer looked away, but the brunet swung his face back again._

"_And **you**. If you ever step foot on these grounds again, I will see to it that you wish that you'd died on the execution plate." He let Seifer's chin drop, and stood up to look at Quistus._

"_Get him out of here." He turned, and looked down at Rinoa's face. There were tears there. He embraced her, his anger dropping away. They stood there together, as the crowd begun to whisper. She whimpered_

"_Why? Why does it have to be this way?" He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling remorse and shame for his actions. He thought back to Seifer's past..._

_Quistus and Seifer had almost made it to the door when his voice rang out again, one last time. The crowd silenced, and the two stopped in their tracks. All eyes were on Leonheart._

"_Wait!" Squall paused, to collect himself._

"_Behold! This man, before you here. He was not always bad, or degraded." Quistus's eyes widened as he continued._

"_He was once a great warrior, and one whom no-one would dare to contest." Squall spoke from the heart, from his soul. As the words poured out, he felt as in a dream._

"_For nothing starts as evil, though evil may come to it, **if** it lets it. So see him now, and remember. Remember that, though you may only walk and see one straight path of life, there are many that you can not or will not see. This man dreamed, and it took him from the paths of this world to the paths of the next, and others. But not all dreams are evil. Nothing is ever certain. And you may not see the right path until you reach the end of it. And so behold, and remember; do not dream the path. Walk the path." There was silence. Squall looked down, and stared. Then, very slowly and carefully, trying to avoid the stares of others, he took Rinoa's arm, and walked down the path, back towards Garden. When he reached the end of the crowd, he started to run._

_Quistus looked at Seifer, who had momentarily forgotten his wounds. He looked back, incredulously, and, half to himself, muttered_

"_Where the hell did that come from?"_

In the chair, Quistus was woken from her dream of the past by a gloved hand. A hard but not harsh voice whispered to her

"Quisty... wake up..." She opened her eyes, and at what she saw felt her heart fill with warmth. A man was standing over her, looking into her eyes. A man, tall and lean, blond hair cropped short and upright. His sapphire eyes, peered into her blues, piercing into her feelings in a way she could never experience with anyone else. Seifer. She jumped up, suddenly alarmed

"Seifer, what are you doing here?! Squall-" he smiled and interrupted her

"Honey, Puberty-boy is done, he's gone to Balamb, remember? He an' Rin are leaving today?" she let out a tense breath of air, and looked up at him. He smiled wider

"Come here..." she fell willingly into his embrace, pushing on to his chest.

"I missed you..." she whispered, drawing lines across his new shirt. He buried his face in her hair, and kissed her. He breathed in, her scent filling his mind, feeling her pressed against him, her sleek body. These were the moments he lived on now, through all the toil and hardship of finding jobs and sleeping in the streets, her would go through it all for just one more minute in her presence. Suddenly she looked up, and kissed him with a passion that staggered him, drawing him in, a tong-caressing gesture of love, felling her lips so soft, her mouth pulling at him. But it was not to be... not here. He broke away, his eyes closed. He breathed deeply and slowly, calming his body. Then he opened his eyes, looking at her disappointed face. He grinned

"More time for that later. For now, we've got to go say our goodbyes." She smiled, a simple flexing of her facial muscles which sent his heart leaping in his chest. She tugged at him

"Come on. We'll take the Ragnarok. I can't be bothered to walk." He smiled to himself. It wasn't just him and Squall who'd changed. He jogged to catch up with her

"Quistus Trepe, I never would have thought it. Won't Cid get somewhat... annoyed at the usage of fuel?" she shrugged, and he grinned wider. He was quite looking forward to a week without the Commander to barge in on him and Quistus.

-----------------------------------

Squall looked up just in time to see the massive beast sweep out of the forest to their right and scoop Zell up in its massive jaws as the blond stumbled backwards. Rinoa screamed

"Zell!"

On the verge of panic, Squall looked around wildly. Then fighting instinct took over. He swept out the Lionheart gunblade, it's blue-tinted adamantine blade glinting in the summer sun, and charged.

The t-rexsaur seemed to sense something coming, as it whirled around, Zell still yelling and waving his arms about wildly. As the beast turned about, it encountered a figure, running and then, in one deft movement, seeming to be right in front of it's eyes. Squall leapt up to the creatures neck, a precise jump which was enhanced by magic as he had been trained. The great blade swung through the air so fast that it sang with the wind it created, the blade vibrating as if longing for flesh to bight and sever. As the t-rexsaur tried to smash it's tail round, the Commander took one fell swipe at it's neck, the heavy sword moving in his hands like it was part of him. The tip swept through the throat, drawing a fine line behind it, and just as it reached the centre, a full round of pulse ammo fired from the base of the blade smashed into the windpipe at point blank, 20 pounds of metal impacting on armoured flesh at 3 times the speed of sound. As Squall landed, he looked up in time to see a huge hole being blown in the monster's spine bellow its head. It screamed an ear-splitting roar, sending Zell flying to the ground, and, in it's death throws, ran headlong back into the trees from which it had so suddenly appeared. Slowly the sounds died, climaxing with an earthshaking thud as, presumable, the massive carcass of the terror dropped to the ground.

Squall stood up, cleaning his gunblade on the grass, sheathed it, and ran over to where Rinoa was already casting healing spells on Zell. The martial-artist tried to push her off

"I'm no hurt, it's didn't bite hard. Just bruised." Squall looked at the light indentations of the teeth around Zell's belly.

"It must have had young to feed, it was trying to take you back alive to through to them. You were lucky." Zell stared up at him.

"Thanks for the information man." He replied weakly.

-----------------------------------

As the three walkers reached the docking bay in Balamb, a huge roaring sound hit their ears. For a moment Rinoa feared that the T-rexsaur was back to wreak vengeance upon them, but as a shadow descended, they realised that a large space-going vessel, namely the Ragnarok, was slowly coming into land outside Balamb. As the noise died, they heard a calling from the other side of the bay, and saw an ecstatic Selphie, with Irvine attempting, unsuccessfully, to calm her down. They walked over, and the petite brunet ran to meet them, closely followed by Irvine.

"This is sooo exiting!" she squealed, as the others attempted to cover their ears at the repulsive noise she was making. Irvine rolled his eyes

"Please, Selph, they're just going away for a week!" he looked at them mock-apologetically

"sorry, she still gets overexcited easily. I've been trying to train her but... OW!!!" his joke was punctuated by a quick 'nudge' in the shin by Selphie's boot. Squall looked annoyed then asked

"Who's in the Ragnarok?" In answer there came another call from up near the Balamb hotel. Quistus was strolling leisurely towards them, her blond hair glinting in the red evening sunset. And behind her was...

"Seifer" growled both Zell and Squall. They started forward, but the others held them back. As the tall gunblademan walked up with Quistus. He looked at them, and sighed

"Look, I'm not here to attack you or posses you or whatever, I just... wanted to see you off as well." His eyes switched nervously back and forth between Squall and Zell, seeing them unconvinced.

"OK, can we call it quits?" he pleaded

"You beet me with the Sorceress and when I came back... _you have won_. Fine?" the two other men looked down, now ashamed of their automatic aggressiveness. Squall stared into Seifer's eyes

"Quits, people. There's no fight here. It's not Garden." Seifer looked relieved, and Squall picked up the bags that had been brought up earlier. He turned to the SeeD boat waiting for them, and breathed the cool sea air. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

As he escorted his Sorceress up the gangplank to the iron ship, he looked back at the small party of their friends smiling up at him. His gaze moved to the blond couple.

"Seifer. You have a week." He smiled as he waved and called

"Use it wisely."

...and they sailed into the sunset.

* * *

...Few, that was long and hard. But it's satisfying in the end. Hope you like my cheesy ending. It's 9:30pm at the moment, and I'm listening to the Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers music cd. It's great. Just thought I'd share that with you.Thanks for all previous reviews, and please review... NOW!

Thanks,

Knighted


	7. Night in Dollet

Disclaimer: I'm not yet able to say I own square or FF8... not yet... hehehe...

Well it's been an interesting few weeks, n'est pas? Once again sorry for the lack of updates, I've had course work and stuff building up to public exams, so I'm kinda stressed at the moment. Hopefully someday I'll be able to update more often... someday...

"_How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?"_

_Tyler Durden_

Knighted

Chapter 7:Night in Dollet

By Knighted

* * *

The moon shone on the oil-black water like a solitary ghost. If someone was looking out over the water between Dollet and the small island of Balamb, they might see a silhouette faintly emerging from the cloudless night. White moonshine reflected of cold hard steel. A huge reinforced smashing prow glinted an evil brownie-red in its adamantine coating. No sound could be heard save the breaking of the sea upon that prow of the Seed attack boat. A figure stood on the gunning platform near the stern of the vessel. His dark chocolaty hair fell over his face in a middle parting. As he raised his head to the view before him, his ice-blue eyes shone in the dark. 

Squall looked up slowly, his vision trailing across the line of rippling water to the dim light ahead of him. A few small street lights were all that illuminated the dark water before him, their glow setting faint lines of light cross the sea. He did a quick calculation in his head; two miles to go until they reached the first sea barriers outside Dollet. His memory quickly flashed back to his SeeD exam when they had blasted over one of the concrete lines in one of the same type of ships he was on now. Such a long time ago...

He was shaken from his reverie by a soft hand upon his shoulder. Quickly spinning around in semi-terror, he faced this new threat. Rinoa, jumped backwards as he spun around, clinging onto the railing around the platform for support. Squall sighed. He had sunk into 'attack mode' again. He deftly stepped forward to his love and supported her. He just about made out the dark rings around her eyes; she had been sleeping. His eyes softened and he embraced her gently. She leaned into his broad chest, eyes closed. After some time a small voice came up to him

"Squall... How long have you been up here?" grimacing, he looked at his watch. He should have known she'd ask one of these... awkward questions, and the answer almost always annoyed her. He gulped at the thought of an angry, tired Rinoa and tentatively tried

"It's... 9:00...?" she covered her smile and asked again, more strongly this time,

"Squall... **How long** have you been up here?"

"Uh... it's, it's... it's 2:00 in the morning." She gasped and pushed away from him, her voice splitting the quiet air

"What! You've been standing here for 6 hours?" he winced and tried to calm her down

"It's alright, I'm not tired, I'm used t-"

"USED TO?" she shrieked "We're meant to be on holiday! Squall, really, I appreciate your... efforts to... to guard us? But seriously, you can't just sit up all night when you're meant to be having a weak of rest! It's not healthy!" he frowned.

"Look _dearest,_ I'm not the stressed out one, so if you could just, uh, move along-"

"Move along!" she yelled again, then leapt at him. He caught from bare reaction, and widened his eyes as she kissed him passionately on the lips. He had only a moment of sweet pleasure before she broke the embrace. She spoke huskily,

"I love it when you get annoyed" he smiled and dived back to her lips. Her mouth immediately opened for him and he darted in, wishing to be part of her in this. She could feel his strong tongue pulling her towards his own mouth, could taste his mouth in hers, and then he was pulling her back into his mouth. She willingly obliged, moving in and taking control with her domineering persona, flicking the roof of his mouth. He felt her enter him and twined his tongue with hers, tasting her and pulling her. They danced a dance with each other, twisting positions, gazing into one another's eyes. Slowly they withdrew and broke off, their heart mourning the loss and yearning to be back together. They brushed and put their heads together, leaning on each other, neither saying a word. There was no need to speak. Slowly Squall pulled Rinoa into his arms. He barely looked up as the automatic piloting system of the ship told them in mechanical tones that they would be docking at Dollet in five minutes.

He nuzzled Rinoa's silky hair, eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of her body against his for the time that they had, her smooth contours feeling as natural as part of him now, pushing into him and seeming to taunt him with thoughts he tried to shut out for now. He looked up and was surprised to see the solid buildings of the city above them already. Had they really been standing there so long together? The dim florescent yellow lights set a slightly eerie glow onto the whole picture. He looked down at the woman resting on his chest and smiled. Rinoa's burst of anger then passion had not been long-she was almost asleep again. He kissed her softly on the top of her head and murmured,

"Rin... we gotta go now. We've arrived. Rinoa?" he sighed and picked her up in one arm as he made his way down to the interior of the vessel to collect their bags. Lifting Rinoa in both arms and slinging her arms about his neck. With his arms supporting her knees and her shoulders as she lay horizontally in his embrace, he slowly knelt down to grasp their two bags in either hand, trying not to drop his burden of a beautiful sleeping woman. For a moment he considered a number of things that would wake her up with a start, and grinned, shocking himself. He would never have thought of something like that even... 5 months ago. _Well, this is what they call... love? Has it really got that far yet? I love her... but... does she? What if she **doesn't?** What if this whole thing is-_ a soft, almost inaudible murmur of

"Squall, are we getting of this boat or what?" from the shut-eyed Rinoa. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. Stepping up to the exit door, he felt the slow scraping thud of the ship grounding on the sandy beach of Dollet city. Glancing to the auto-pilot panel by the hatchway, he managed to hook his bag onto just his thumb in the right hand, and just reach up with the index finger of the same hand to the glowing 'inverse movement' button, pressing it five times to give a five minute count-down before the ship set off back to Balamb. As he stepped off the steely ramp, which subsequently retracted back into the hull as the door clamped shut and sealed itself, he was enveloped by darkness on the beach. Scanning his memory of the beach from the few times he'd been there, he turned in the vague direction of a particular street light upon the wall ahead, and set of slowly into the night.

In the darkness of the silent streets of Dollet, somebody screamed. A man rushed round the corner, not in fear, but in urgency. His chocolate brown hair flapped parting across his forehead, but he could not sweep it back out of his eyes because of the burden of a young raven-haired woman in his arms, and their bags in his hands.

Squall gave a relieved sigh as he recognised the sign of the Sorceresses Tail hotel, darting through the seemingly shining doors and into the light beyond. There was no-one in the reception hall, let alone anyone behind the receptionists' desk. Squall sighed in frustration as he saw that the lift and stair doors were firmly locked. That explained the open main doors of the hotel, anyway. But why had he not thought of pre-ordering a key before he thought as he placed Rinoa on a sofa. She did not stir once, smiling in her deep slumber. _Fine for some people_ Squall thought, _she didn't have to run through a dangerous city at night with people screaming and her most loved person in the world her arms_. He smiled at the thought _most loved_, and realised why he had not pre-ordered room keys for them. He had had enough to think about that night planning the holiday with Rinoa in his room, and in his arms. They talked all night long and been so close... _No time for reminiscing now, _thought the ever-present SeeD part of his mind. Searching through his bag, he took out Rinoa's weapon-the large shuriken-throwing handle which was aptly named the Shooting Star. He strapped it to her delicate wrist in case someone broke in, although by that time... it might be too late... he winced and told himself to think of other things. He had to go and help whoever was suffering out there in that dead night. He saw it as a duty to SeeD and to his honour. Loosing the sheath of his gunblade, he drew the steely-blue length of the Lionheart blade and checked the cartridges in the roller. He looked up, and jumped back in surprise. Rinoa was standing there, a determined look on her face, staring at him.

"I'm coming with you. Please don't try to do that again. If you... if you died out there, and I was just lying asleep in here... I wouldn't be able to live with myself. And besides, you **are** my Knight, you know. You can't just shirk your duty that easily."

"I'm sorry, Rin. I just had to-" she placed a finger on his lips to silence him.

"I know Squall. I'm sorry too." He tilted his head in confusion.

"Why?" She suddenly grinned, forgetting the grim atmosphere which she had dimly sensed while she was being carried through the streets half asleep.

"...I'm sorry you had to carry me again" they both burst out laughing, in relief that the tense atmosphere was broken. They were cut short when a terrified shriek sounded, muffled, from out in the streets. They dropped their smiles, lifting their weapons to a ready stance.

"Let's go." Squall said, and, hands clasped between them, Sorceress and Knight, they both stepped back out into the grim darkness of the Dollet night.

* * *

Well that about wraps it up for now, though I've got the next one coming up soon. Apologies again for the delay, and for the shortness of this chapter. 

Thanks,

Knighted


	8. Combat?

Disclaimer: I own FFVIII ANDSquare. So there.

I'm back. So many apologies to anyone who read the story before and for some unknown reason is crazily looking at it again. I don't know why you would, but there you go. Have fun.

"Fix on one star, at last… any star in the swirling star blizzard…"

**Knighted **

**Chapter 8: Combat?**

_By Knighted _

* * *

The streets were dark. So incredibly black, pitch, as the Sorceress and the Knight crept forward, towards the sound ofterror that sent shivers down even Squall's back. Lionheart gunblade and projectile Shooting Star were held at the ready as the two lovers-turned warriors advanced through the night-time streets of Dollet. 

Squall felt Rinoa's bare arm rub against his, sending a tingling sensation from his arm through his body, even as he thought of his standard SeeD street tactics from basic training, all those years ago, before he'd met her. He thought back to another time, also before he'd met his partner, when he'd fought in these same streets, seen a mechanical monster drop from a fifty-storey building...

"Squall!" the hiss broke him out of his reverie. He saw Rinoa looking up at him, so many emotions on her face; concern that he could be drifting off at a time like this, amusement at it, fear of what they were hearing... what they were hearing. He only just noticed - the wails had stopped.

"Quickly" he only needed to say that one word. They were getting near the sounds when they had stopped.

They headed toward the corner of the street, instinctively flattening themselves against the wall of a house, Commander taking the lead. Carefully looking round the corner, Squall saw a woman cowering against a building, her face a frozen mask of fear. Around her were several Galbadian Commanders, their red armoured suits tattered and unkempt. The SeeD narrowed his eyes; the Galbadian army had long since disbanded – this must be a few of the old-timers who weren't so keen to let go of their past. The lady's eyes flicked from each Galbadian to the other in fear. There were always a few groups in each city, generally higher ranking men who'd lost most in the destruction of the army, and always in the same state as these were. Drunk and intent on staying that way. Even if that meant beating up some girl and taking her money. **Especially** if that meant beating up some girl and taking her money.

"4 Galbadian Commanders, all armed, but no projectiles." He informed his partner in a whisper. She acknowledged with a nod, and they moved smoothly together from behind the corner, clasped hands letting go for now.

Squall had miss-calculated. There _were_ 4 officers, but there was also a small blue-uniformed private. He looked small and uncomfortable, and certainly not as drunk as his superiors. Rinoa's brow furrowed.

_Don't I recognise him?_

The private glanced about nervously as the others started to move in on the woman, and saw them. Then he screamed.

"SIR! It… it can't be!"

One of the officers looked up and peered at them groggily through his visor. The others ignored the soldier and started to grab at the woman, who screamed again and tried to scrabble away.

Meanwhile the one who was still staring at them motioned to the smaller soldier. He grumbled something,

"Wedge… am… am I seein' w-what I think…" The two Galbadians were shaking now.

"Sir… It's **them**!"

Squall suddenly took a step forwards.

"Wait a minute… Wedge?" Rinoa joined him,

"Biggs and Wedge? What the-" The drunken Biggs cut them off,

"HA! They remember **us** alright! Yeh… y-you just, just come i-in here an' walk up sayin'…"

"Sir, I think you should sit down…" Wedge volunteered. The other Commanders were looking up now, and the girl snuck away around a side alley. Squall's brow furrowed,

"Didn't you quit the army?"

"HA!" shouted the drunken Biggs as he sank onto an empty wooden crate on the side of the alley. He leant his head back against the wall,

"We'd never… n-never qu-quit de…" he paused, apparently to collect his thoughts,

"-army. Yeh. Never." Wedge looked up towards Squall and Rinoa,

"We **did** quit the army, sir! But - ah - we didn't have any other clothes to wear apart from our uniform…" Rinoa looked at her partner quizzically.

"HA! S-sure we d-did, k-kiddo…" He choked, spluttering, and leaned over from his seat, vomiting on the ground.

"Ugh…" Rinoa whispered. Wedge patted his superior officer on the back concernedly, As Biggs choked over the dirt.

"Why were you pestering that woman?" demanded Squall, firmer now. Wedge looked up. There was fear in his voice and a slight tremble to his hands.

"Sir… I can't stop them… it's getting out of control Mr Leonhart Sir!" Wedge explained. Squall looked worried, but still murmured to Rinoa,

"Why does he have to call everyone 'Sir'…?"

"Must be a military thing," she teased, grinning at him. She knew full well how 'military' he thought he was. He frowned at her, but it only seemed to make her giggle. Sighing, he turned back to the ex-Galbadian soldiers. She stopped, coming back to reality and the situation.

"OK. I think I understand. What you lot need is a proper night of sleep. Clear off now. Keep off the streets. You", he gestured at Wedge, "Get them under some shelter somewhere. Anywhere will do." He wrinkled his nose. "See if you can get them washed as well. And for Hyne's sake get rid of those uniforms. They don't make people well – disposed to you."

"Sir. Yes Sir!" Wedge did a quick salute (the Commander shook his head and sighed again) before quickly turning around and hoisting the muttering Biggs to his feet. Supporting him, he led the officers off down the street away from the watching couple, speaking to them slowly and carefully,

"Come on Sir. Going to get you home Sir! Don't worry, you'll feel better tomorrow Sir…" The last thing they heard as the small troop rounded a corner in the street was,

"Who does – h-he th-ink 'e is… givin' orders…" from a half-conscious Biggs.

"He's right, you know" said Rinoa, turning to him, "Why were you giving orders like that?" She smiled.

"Must be a military thing", retorted Squall.

* * *

I know, I know, really short. To be honest I just wanted to get a new chapter out to help me start up again. Hopefully it will be easier from now. Please review! That is, if anyone reads this... 

Thanks,

Knighted


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